Skip to main content

The context you need, when you need it

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters — and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our own.

We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?

Join now

Square is considering offering investment and savings products through its Cash App

“Anything you do today with a bank account, you should look to Cash App to begin to emulate more and more of that,” says Square CFO Sarah Friar.

Square CFO Sarah Friar
Square CFO Sarah Friar
Square CFO Sarah Friar
Keith MacDonald for Vox Media

The payments company Square is increasingly looking more and more like a bank account, with a Cash App that the company says is trying to serve 30 million unbanked or underbanked households in the U.S.

And the company’s chief financial officer, Sarah Friar, shared onstage at Recode’s Code Commerce 2018 today that the company was considering expanding into new turf. It may be offering savings products like a neighborhood bank might, and will perhaps allow customers to purchase stock just like Cash users today can purchase bitcoin.

Those are still just ideas that the company can do with the more than $200 million in balances that customers hold in the app.

“It’s definitely a big balance. And we’re starting to think about, are there other things we could do for our customers there? Maybe help them with their savings,” she said. “How can we help them make their money work for them? Lots of ideas on the table.”

One of those ideas is “absolutely” other types of investments.

“Anything you do today with a bank account, you should look to the Cash App to begin to emulate more and more of that,” Friar said.

Those changes would move Square beyond its origins as a checkout software for businesses and into a competitor to startups like Robinhood.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

More in Technology

Podcasts
Are humanoid robots all hype?Are humanoid robots all hype?
Podcast
Podcasts

AI is making them better — but they’re not going to be doing your chores anytime soon.

By Avishay Artsy and Sean Rameswaram
Future Perfect
The old tech that could help stop the next airborne pandemicThe old tech that could help stop the next airborne pandemic
Future Perfect

Glycol vapors, explained.

By Shayna Korol
Future Perfect
Elon Musk could lose his case against OpenAI — and still get what he wantsElon Musk could lose his case against OpenAI — and still get what he wants
Future Perfect

It’s not about who wins. It’s about the dirty laundry you air along the way.

By Sara Herschander
Life
Why banning kids from AI isn’t the answerWhy banning kids from AI isn’t the answer
Life

What kids really need in the age of artificial intelligence.

By Anna North
Culture
Anthropic owes authors $1.5B for pirating work — but the claims process is a Kafkaesque messAnthropic owes authors $1.5B for pirating work — but the claims process is a Kafkaesque mess
Culture

“Your AI monster ate all our work. Now you’re trying to pay us off with this piece of garbage that doesn’t work.”

By Constance Grady
Future Perfect
Some deaf children are hearing again because of a new gene therapySome deaf children are hearing again because of a new gene therapy
Future Perfect

A medical field that almost died is quietly fixing one disease at a time.

By Bryan Walsh